Page 29 of Sweet Caroline
“It’s okay if things are getting hard, Miles,” he adds.
Fuck. Just my dick whenever I think about Caroline.
“It’s not like that, man,” I say, though I know full well I don’t have a leg to stand on here. This thing with Caroline tonight hashardwritten all over it. And I’m partly to blame. She may have impulsively invited me, but I also impulsively leaned into it—too intrigued by the idea of spending an evening with her to take one of the multiple outs she offered later.
“This about that girl then?” Crossing his arms over his chest, he lifts his chin. “C’mon. Spit it out, scandal boy.”
I set my jaw, hesitating another moment before I relent. “Alright. Fuck. So I might’ve… promised to go with her to this fancy, black-tie fundraiser tonight.”
His eyebrows lift. “Thought you weren’t dating.”
“I’m not. It’s like a fake… thing.” I scrunch up my face, knowing I sound like a dumbass.
“A fake… thing,” he repeats slowly.
“Like a fake boyfriend thing. She needs me to pretend for the…” I trail off, scrubbing my forehead with the back of my glove. “Shit, this is stupid, isn’t it?”
“I mean, it’s not soundingsmart, I’ll tell you that much.”
“Fuck off! I said no judgy shit. It was a rhetorical question.”
He holds up his hands in a silentfine.
“It’s one night, okay?” I reason, my shoulders already tensing up. “Not a real date. It’s fine. It’ll be fine. It was either go with me or go with her dickhead ex, so…”
“Ah, right,” Jude says with a nod. “So you’re planning to, what, swoop in and play the hero? White-knight this thing?”
“I guess?”More like white-knuckle this thing.“I dunno. It was her idea. She was in a bind. Thought I could help.”
Letting out a long sigh, Jude walks a few paces over to the cliffside, craning his neck to peer over the edge. He mumbles something I can’t catch, like, “Forty-foot drop.”
“What are you doing?” I ask as he wanders back.
“Oh, just trying to figure out whether I should throw you in the river.” He tilts his head toward the cliffside with a smirk.
“Thanks,” I deadpan.
“C’mon.” He picks up the wheelbarrow again.
With a sigh, I follow him through the arbor and down a small set of stairs to a secluded garden, where we set up to do one last haul.
“So you must really like this girl, huh?” When I open my mouth to protest, he cuts me off. “Even though it’s allfake, like you said, and blah blah blah, you’re not dating yet, et cetera.”
“I mean, she’s… Like, she seems pretty cool and…” I trail off, unable to deny tomyselfthat I’m ridiculously attracted to Caroline. That I haven’t been obsessing about her, despite my best efforts not to. That I haven’t come more than once thinking aboutpushing up that fluffy sweater dress and losing myself between those thigh-high leather boots.
“The dopey distraction isn’t really reassuring, Miles.”
Snapping back to the present—and my frowning brother—I remind myselfagainthat it’s not real. It’s one night. And we have nothing in common, anyway. She’s a privileged rich girl with a dad who’s all up in her business, and I’m…
Well, it must be nice to have parents whocouldbe all up in your business. The only one I’ve got all up in my business is Jude.
“Whatever, man,” I say. “Doesn’t matter. It’s not a real date.”
“Uh-huh.” He doesn’t seem convinced.
My phone rings from my back pocket.
“Don’t be too long, ’kay?” Jude grabs the tarp. “I’ve got plans with Olena this afternoon.”
